Had a concrete foreman in Austin tell me to pour at 3 AM in July and I thought he was crazy

I was running a small foundation job near downtown Austin and the forecast was hitting 102 that week. This old foreman named Ray said we should start pouring at 3 AM so the concrete could set before the sun really cooked it. I figured he was just being dramatic but he showed me pictures from a job where they poured at noon and the slab cracked in 3 days. We did the early pour and it went perfect. No cracks, no issues. Has anyone else adjusted your pour schedule around heat like that?

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the_kai1d ago

Ray's not crazy at all. I've done that same trick on a few Texas summer jobs and it saves you a world of hurt with thermal cracking and surface crusting. Pouring when it's 80 instead of 102 gives the concrete time to hydrate right without you fighting the sun the whole day.